This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7 119 from my two applications one of which is entitled COMPUTER AND METHOD FOR DATA COMMUNICATION CONTROLLING THE SAME filed with the Korean Industrial Property Office on 7 May 2001 and there duly assigned Serial No. 24677/2001, and the other of which is entitled COMPUTER AND METHOD FOR DATA COMMUNICATION CONTROLLING THE SAME, filed with the Korean Industrial Property Office on 26 Jul. 2001 and there duly assigned Serial No. 45174/2001.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates, in general, to a computer and a data communication control method thereof.
2. Related Art
Computer systems include a desktop computer system and a portable computer system. The portable computer system is described below by way of example.
The portable computer system comprises a computer body accommodating a plurality of hardware components, such as a central processing unit (CPU) contained in a casing thereof, and a liquid crystal display (LCD) for displaying a picture as a result of a video signal outputted from the computer body.
On a side of the casing, there are provided PS/2 ports to which a mouse and a keyboard are connected, a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) drive or a floppy disk drive (FDD), and a local area network (LAN) connector and a modem connector for communicating with external devices. An external LAN connector is connected to the LAN connector for LAN communication, and an external modem connector is connected to the modem connector for modem communication through a telephone line.
With this configuration, in the portable computer system, the external LAN connector and the external modem connector are connected to the LAN connector and the modem connector, respectively.
However, in the portable computer system, the side of the casing has a limited amount of space for the installation of hardware components. Nevertheless, within the limited space, the LAN connector and the modem connector (to which the external LAN connector and the external modem connector, respectively, are connected) should be provided because the external LAN connector to be connected to the LAN connector and the external modem connector to be connected to the modem connector are similar to each, other with respect to connection, but are different from each other with respect to the number of pins in that the external LAN connector has 8 pins and the external modem connector has 4 pins. As described above, in the portable computer system, because the connectors are provided on the casing, the external appearance of the casing appeares complicated, the space for installation of hardware components is narrow, and the cost of production increases.
The following are considered to be generally pertinent to the present invention but are burdened by the disadvantages set forth above: U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,608 to Scheer et al., entitled COMPUTER SYSTEM WITH AN INTERCONNECTION RECEPTABLE SUITABLE FOR DIFFERENT EXTERNAL CONNECTORS, issued on Mar. 26, 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,755 to Krishan, entitled INTEGRATED APPARATUS FOR INTERFACING SEVERAL COMPUTERS TO THE INTERNET THROUGH A SINGLE CONNECTION, issued on Sep. 5, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,989 to Glad et al., entitled ADAPTABLE COMMUNICATIONS CONNECTORS, issued on Dec. 26, 2000, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 06-85848 to Tsukamoto, entitled COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT, published on 25 Mar. 1994.
Accordingly, the present invention has been developed with the above-described shortcoming and the needs of the user in mind. An object of the present invention is to provide a computer and a data communication control method thereof, in which the external appearance of the connector is simplified, the cost of production is decreased, and space for installation of hardware components is plentiful.
This and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by the provision of a computer system equipped with a LAN signal processing part and a modem signal processing part, the system comprising: a common connector to which an external LAN connector to be connected to the LAN signal processing part and an external modem connector to be connected to the modem signal processing part are selectively connected; a connector detector provided at the common connector for detecting which of the external LAN connector and the external modem connector is connected to the common connector; and a control part for controlling a predetermined signal to be transmitted to one of the LAN signal processing part and the modem signal processing part in correspondence to the external connector detected by the connector detector.
Preferably, the common connector includes common pins employed for both the LAN signal processing part and the modem signal processing part, and exclusive pins employed for only the LAN signal processing part, and the connector detector is provided on an inside wall of the common connector, and outputs a detection signal in response to contact with the external LAN connector.
Further, the control part comprises a bi-state relay switch which controls the predetermined signal to be transmitted to one of the LAN signal processing part and the modem signal processing part in correspondence to the external connector detected by the connector detector.
The bi-state relay switch includes negative and positive sides, common terminals connected with the common pins, LAN selecting terminals for connection to the LAN signal processing part, and modem selecting terminals for connection to the modem signal processing part. The common terminals of the negative and positive sides are connected to the LAN selecting terminals or the modem selecting terminals in correspondence to the external connector detected by the connector detector.
Preferably, the LAN signal processing part and the modem signal processing part are provided on a main board, and the common connector is provided at a side of the main board.
Further, the LAN and modem signal processing parts are provided on a combination card, and the combination card includes the connector detector and the control part.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects may be also achieved by the provision of a method of controlling data communication of a computer system equipped with a LAN signal processing part and a modem signal processing part, the method comprising the steps of: providing a common connector to which an external LAN connector to be connected to the LAN signal processing part and an external modem connector to be connected to the modem signal processing part are selectively connected; connecting one of the external LAN connector and the external modem connector to the common connector; detecting the kind of external connector connected to the common connector; and controlling a predetermined signal to be transmitted to one of the LAN signal processing part and the modem signal processing part in correspondence to the external connector detected by the connector detector.